New Red Cross center in Braintree trains future nurses

Mary Whitfill The Patriot Ledger thelittlewreck

Saturday

Sep 16, 2017 at 6:00 AMSep 16, 2017 at 5:40 PM

The center is one of seven in the state.

BRAINTREE -- The inaugural class of nursing assistants at the American Red Cross’ new Braintree facility are only a week into their studies, but they’ve already been certified in CPR and have learned about infection control, injury prevention and how to take vital signs.

“This class is only four weeks and it packs in so much information,” student Alyssa Powers, 22, of Weymouth said.

Powers and nine others started their one-month Certified Nursing Assistant Training Program this week.

The Braintree training center, on Wood Road, is one of seven in the state. It will be used for day and night classes, graduating a few hundred students a year. They will be certified as nursing assistants and home health aides, and in CPR.

Program manager Joel Brava said the Red Cross opened the Braintree center because it needed a greater presence on the South Shore. He said the Red Cross training program is a great stepping stone for people who are looking to get into the health care industry but aren’t sure what direction they want to take.

Brava said the Red Cross used to have a training facility in Braintree, but it was closed in 2015 because of issues with the space. It decided to open the new center when there was enough interest from South Shore residents who did not want to commute to the training center in Easton.

“There is this overriding need for (certified nursing assistants) right now,” he said.

Nursing assistants typically work in doctors’ offices, for home health care agencies and in nursing homes.

Classes are taught by registered nurses in a classroom that includes four hospital beds, basic medical office equipment and patient models. The program runs four weeks for day students and eight weeks for evening students. It includes lectures, in-class skill sessions and three days of getting clinical experience in local nursing homes.

Students as young as 16 are eligible to become certified nursing assistants, Brava said.

He said Red Cross training programs see students from all demographics.

“Sometimes there are students straight from high school; other times we see single mothers who have decided they’re going to do this to make a better life for their families,” Brava said.

Powers signed up for the program after deciding that studying early childhood development at Quincy College – her initial plan – wasn’t for her.

“Nursing is my passion,” she said. “This is the first step for me to go on to be a (licensed vocational nurse or registered nurse). I want to go into pediatrics, eventually.”

For student Kirsten Swenson, 28, the program is a first step toward training to be a physician’s assistant. She said she has always been interested in the medical field. She has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and is enrolled in a pre-medical program at Harvard Extension School.

“There is just such a breadth of things you can do with all this knowledge,” said Swenson, who lives in Cambridge. “It’s the ground basis for what everyone needs in the medical field.”